ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Research In Motion Ltd. announced they would make the BlackBerry 7130c device and service offering available at prices aimed at consumers—prices that exactly match the new price point established by Motorola Inc. and Verizon Wireless for the Motorola Q smart phone, launched at the end of last month.
The new BlackBerry device and service will be available June 12 at Cingular stores nationwide.
The BlackBerry 7130c will be priced at $200, and Cingular’s BlackBerry Personal Plan will be offered for as low as $30 per month. The plan is designed to run on the BlackBerry Internet Service, not the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The Q is selling at Verizon for $200 with a two-year service agreement.
Both RIM and Motorola appear to be banking on Americans’ frenzied pursuit of work and family obligations that might require on-the-go e-mail, Web browsing, organizer functions and phones in a single, stylish device. Thus the new BlackBerry, like the Q, is being touted as having a slimmer, narrower phone-like design for the mass consumer market.
The 7130c features smart dialing, conference calling, speed dialing, call forwarding, polyphonic and MP3 ring tones, speakerphone and Bluetooth support. The handset will run on Cingular’s EDGE network, and features quad-band GSM functions.
In related, positive news for RIM, NTT DoCoMo Inc. has agreed to market the BlackBerry to its corporate customers beginning this fall. The devices will run on both W-CDMA (UMTS) and GSM/GPRS networks.
